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King Arthur's courtly love in medieval literature
The arthurian legend bibliography
The arthurian legend bibliography
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Recommended: King Arthur's courtly love in medieval literature
Celtic Mythological Motifs in Chretien's Yvain and Carroll's Alice
Abstract: This is an analysis of celtic mythological motifs or themes (usually found Arthurian romances) in the medieval romance Yvain and the victorian classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland .}
There are elements of the Arthurian romance in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland and Chretien de Troyes' Yvain . Both novels incorporate important aspects or reoccurring themes in Arthurian romances, including: the concept of a hero's (or heroine's) journey into a magic "Other World," the importance of white or otherwise uncommon animals,the importance an Otherworldly queen, the importance of sacred springs or other bodies of water, and the importance of chivalric values. The medieval romance Yvainhas been firmly established as one of the first and most enduring examples of Arthurian tradition, but the English novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has not been considered in this light. Hopefully, the following analysis will provide readers with a new outlook on Carroll's morality tale; his novel appears to have been influenced by the same concepts that encompass the Arthurian romance.
The most obvious similarity between Yvain and the victorian novel Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland is the theme of a journey into a magic "Other World" or land that outside of the boundaries of mortal time and space. This theme is presented to the reader at the very beginning of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when an unusual white rabbit leads Alice, the heroine, to Wonderland (the Other World). She enters this strange world through a hole in the ground; this concept of a sacred mound or hole as an e...
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...en at the trial; she responds to Her Majesty's cry of "Off with her head!" by declaring, "You're nothing but a pack of cards" (Ch. 12:133). Her kindness is illustrated through such chivalric actions as defending the Duchess' pig-baby, listening to the Mock-Turtle's story with sympathy and patience, and assuring the poor Dormouse when it gets trapped in the pool of tears. Wonderland, in essence, appears to be a closed universe ruled by elaborate conventions of chivalry, with monarchies, nobilities, courts of justice, duels and rituals that recall the Middle Ages and the Arthurian romances of Chretien de Troyes.
WORKS CITED
Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1965.
Chretien de Troyes. Yvain; or The Knight with the Lion. Trans. Ruth Harwood Cline. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1975.
Frida was an amazing artist and courageous women. Through all the heartaches and tragedies she went through during her life, she managed to stay strong and follow her dreams of being a well know artist and painter. She was a beautiful and incredible artist with such creativity and heart. To see such raw emotion come from someone who went through hell and back, she remained true to herself. I wish I had half the passion she did for life.
Guyer, Foster Erwin. Chrétien de Troyes: Inventor of the Modern Novel. London: Vision Press Limited, 1960.
Many people know the culture-shaped story of Alice falling down the rabbit hole, into a dream-like adventure that has impacted the world. But not many people know about the real mystery, how it was created and how the world reacted to it. That is the actual magic, how the book that was shaped by 1800s English culture, affected the rest of the world’s culture from that point on. Dodgson’s work of art paints a picture of the childish outlook that was looked down upon during the Victorian period.
“Alice in Wonderland” written by famous author, Lewis Carroll, is a fantasy novel printed with many respects and portrays a vivid reflection of society through satire. For instance, Carroll criticizes that Wonderland is a monarchy and not a democracy; it is separated between different social classes, and clearly speaks volumes of the scheme during Queen Victoria’s rein. During the Victorian Era, British imperial power took a large-scale expansion through many colonial parts of Africa, India, Asia, and other parts of the middle-east. Thus, increasing use of the English language outside of Europe and increasing trade with distant regions. This produced a strong spirit of animosity during Queen Victoria’s rein. However, later in the Age, writer’s like Lewis Carroll rebelled against blasphemy and stereotypical codes of conduct. “Alice in Wonderland” is one work of fiction that Lewis Carroll gives a prime example of his satirical entourage.
“They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my reality,” said Frida Kahlo describing her art work (Frida Kahlo n.d.). Kahlo was a Mexican artist from the mid-20th century. She was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico, and the daughter of German and Mexican descendants (Lucie-Smith 1999). During her lifetime Kahlo embarked on many hardships caused by illness, heartache, and love. She became known for her haunting self portraits, radical politics, and that infamous unibrow (Stephen 2008).
Thus, Alice in Wonderland is a good illustration of a Hero’s Journey. This story allows us to see how Alice overcomes the three main phases, and most of the stages identified by Campbell in her journey-transformation from an undisciplined child to a wise young adult. Throughout the story, Alice overcomes the nonsense of the young and the old before she truly understands what adulthood is all about. All through her adventures in Wonderland, she encounters numerous new situations and meets different archetypes that are necessary for her to be considered a Hero.
In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the secondary environment behaves as a parody of Alice’s primary world or the larger, universally known, typical outline for Victorian society. Alice’s concrete perspective of the world clashes against the madness in Wonderland. Alice continues to maintain purity in a corrupt society found in the disturbed natural order of Wonderland when she is challenged by different obstacles that make her question her integrity.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about a little girl who comes into contact with unpredictable, illogical, basically mad world of Wonderland by following the White Rabbit into a huge rabbit – hole. Everything she experiences there challenges her perception and questions common sense. This extraordinary world is inhabited with peculiar, mystical and anthropomorphic creatures that constantly assault Alice which makes her to question her fundamental beliefs and suffer an identity crisis. Nevertheless, as she woke up from “such a curious dream” she could not help but think “as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been ”.
Lewis Carroll's use of puns and riddles in Alice in Wonderland help set the theme and tone. He uses word play in the book to show a world of warped reality and massive confusion. He uses such play on words to reveal the underlying theme of growing up', but with such an unusual setting and ridiculous characters, there is need for some deep analyzing to show this theme. The book contains many examples of assonance and alliteration to add humor. Carroll also adds strange diction and extraordinary syntax to support the theme.
The characters of Wonderland have backstory and real names; as well as the nicknames such as Mad Hatter. The shift can illuminate the emphasis on Good and Evil in our society today. The Queen in both is a representation of masculine evil and the story clearly defines the struggle to ‘win the good fight’. The union of the characters serves to clarify the two sides of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. This can be translated into huge divide in power dynamics in the United states. The 1% controls most of America while the gaps in the middle class continue to grow.
...ich are somewhat symbolic of religion as a whole and finding her own beliefs. For instance, the garden that Alice has trouble accessing represents Eden, the flawless world Adam and Eve lived in before they sinned. She has trouble reaching this garden being Alice isn’t yet ready to go to such a perfect place as she herself isn’t pure of heart and still struggles with understanding what she believes in. Throughout Alice’s journey, however, she begins to learn more regarding herself with each curious encounter in wonderland.
Although the novel is notorious for its satire and parodies, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland main theme is the transition between childhood and adulthood. Moreover, Alice’s adventures illustrate the perplexing struggle between child and adult mentalities as she explores the curious world of development know as Wonderland. From the beginning in the hallway of doors, Alice stands at an awkward disposition. The hallway contains dozens of doors that are all locked. Alice’s pre-adolescent stage parallels with her position in the hallway. Alice’s position in the hallway represents that she is at a stage stuck between being a child and a young woman. She posses a small golden key to ...
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the animal characters are very strange. In audience’s expectation, Lewis Carroll was supposed to guide Alice throughout the traditional fairytale world she has created, but instead they were negative influences on this child. Do the animal characters in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland disobey the animal characters in traditional fairytales? The animals in Alice argue with her, confuse her, and tell her upsetting stories instead of guiding her through the fairytale world she has created.
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland follows the story of young Alice trapped in the world of Wonderland after falling down through a rabbit-hole. The rabbit-hole which is filled with bookshelves, maps, and other objects foreshadows the set of rules, the ones Alice is normally accustomed to, will be defied in Wonderland. This conflict between her world and Wonderland becomes evident shortly after her arrival as evinced by chaos in “Pool of Tears” and Alice brings up the main theme of the book “was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I am not the same, the next question is who am I?” (Carroll 18). After Alice fails to resolve her identity crisis using her friends, Alice says “Who am I, then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up: if not, I’ll stay down here til I’m somebody else” (Carroll 19). Hence in the beginning, Alice is showing her dependency on others to define her identity. Nevertheless when her name is called as a witness in chapter 12, Alice replies “HERE!” without any signs of hesitation (Carroll 103). Close examination of the plot in Alice in Wonderland reveals that experiential learning involving sizes leads Alice to think logically and rationally. Alice then attempts to explore Wonderland analytically and becomes more independent as the outcome. With these qualities, Alice resolves her identity crisis by recognizing Wonderland is nothing but a dream created by her mind.